Bright skies and warm weather bring visitors to the Avenue

A bright and hot summer Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach drew more than a few visitors to Worth Avenue.

“We came to look at the shops, only we didn’t realize they’d be closed,” said Nina Hakopian, of Davie, as she and her husband, Andre, were preparing to enter Taboo.

Patricia Mathurin, of Woodstock, Maryland, took the opportunity to visit the Avenue on the advice of her friend Jo Ann Hogan, of Baltimore. The two had driven over the bridge from the Palm Beach County Convention Center where Mathurin’s niece, Jessalynn Medairy, and other family members were working as part of the Second Annual International Pole and Exotic Dance Fitness Convention.

Hogan described the Avenue to Mathurin as “the Rodeo Drive of the East.

“I was here roughly 20 years ago,” said Hogan. “We came here to see the stores and maybe do some shopping. We didn’t know the stores would be closed.”

Aside from restaurants, only a handful of stores were open for business.

One of them was ViVi G. Shoes where Marie Nikolaishvili, of West Palm Beach, was busy cutting several lengths of black ribbon. “We had a few customers,” she said. “It’s a regular Sunday. It’s always quiet on Sundays.”

That sentiment was echoed by Sashawna Donaldson at The Sunglass Hut. “Sunday is very slow. There’s not much going on.”

And some people, like Ed and Maryelle Brown, of Fort Lauderdale, simply came to admire the view.

“We’re just going to wander down to the beach,” said Ed Brown. “We like Palm Beach and so we come and visit.”